Can-opener.



No. 663,846. Patented Dec. l8, I900. H. L. BAILEY.

CAN OPENER. (Application filed Apr. 9, 1900.

(No Model.)

NITED STATES Arnwr FFICE.

HERBERT L. BAILEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE HANDY THINGS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CAN-OPENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,846, dated December 18, 1900.

Application filed April 9,1900. berial No. 12,119. (No model.)

To ttZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT L. BAILEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at 189 La Salle street, Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented cer' tain new and useful Improvements in Can- Openers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in can-openers, and has for its object the pro duction of a simple, cheap, and effective canopener stamped out of metal which shall be capable of opening either square or round cans and which shall have such leverage and operate with great power by the expenditure of a comparatively small force. This object is attained by the device illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a perspective View of a can-opener embodying my invention, showing the same at work upon a'can. Fig. 2 is a front edge view thereof. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, and Fig. 4 is the blank from which the opener is formed.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawlngs.

My can-opener is made complete out of a single piece of metal properly stamped, on t, and formed out of a sheet embodying in the one structure and from the single piece the entering point, the cutting edge, the fulcrum, and the handle.

Referring by letter to the accompanying drawings,Aindicates the handle; B,the shank thereof 3 C, the fulcrum-bend, and D the cutter. When stamped out of the sheet, the blank has the general form shown in Fig. 4, with the cutter D extending substantially at right angles to the handle A and shank B, but all in the same plane. To form the opener, it is only necessary to bend the blank substantially on the line a. a back upon itself, so as to bring the cutterD substantially in a line with the handle A and shank B, as shown in Fig. 3. It will of course be understood that in bending the cutter over the bend is not sufficiently short to cause the cutterto lie against the shank B; but, on the contrary, the bend is sufficiently arched to leave a space between the shank and the cutter, as

clearly shown in Fig. 2, in which the edge of the can is received during the cutting operation, the arch or crown of the bend forming a fulcrum C, which rests upon the upper edge of the can during the cutting operation. In practice I prefer to have the shank l3 bent at a slight angle to the handle A, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2, so as to cause the cutter to stand oblique to the handle, as this disposition of the parts affords better clearance of the handle in opening square cans, although it is not essential to the satisfactory operation of the opener. The cutter, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4:, is straight and dull upon the back edge thereof--that is, the edge nearest the axis of the handlewhile the opposite edge is curved or convex in outline and sharpened, the convex and straight edges meeting to form a sharp entering point E on the cutter for convenience in starting the operation. As the pressure in forcing the initial point through the can-lid is naturally in a general line with the axis of the handle, it will be found desirable to bend the end of the handle, as shown at F, to avoid the comparatively sharp edge that would otherwise be presented to the hands in pressing upon the tool.

By my invention an exceedingly cheap, simple, and practically indestructible canopener is produced which is powerful in operation, as the fulcrum is as near as possible to the actual cutting-point, while the cutter presents a convexed edge that severs the metal with very little force when applied to the relatively long handle.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A blank for forming a can-opener consisting of a metal bar having a straight body portion A, the angular portion B havingstraight ends connected by the curved intermediate portion and the end D substantially at right angles to the axis of the part A, said part D having a straight and a curved side termi- Dating in a bend, substantially as described.

HERBERT L. BAILEY.

Witnesses:

G. L. Woon, M. E. SHIELDS. 

